Cheeseman. — On the Food-plants of the Polynesians. 307 



So far it has been believed that the cultivated plants of 

 the Maoris, brought with them, when their migration to New 

 Zealand took place, were four only. First, the kumara, or 

 sweet potato, which, up to the time of the introduction of the 

 true potato, constituted their chief vegetable food, and is still 

 largely grown ; second, the taro, which fifty years ago was 

 ■seen in every Maori cultivation of any size, but which has now 

 fallen into almost total disuse ; third, the hue, or gourd, which 

 was grown for the double reason of providing a food somewhat 

 similar to our pumpkin, and of preparing calabashes, or water- 

 vessels, from the hardened rind of the fruit. Like the taro, it 

 is now seldom cultivated. Lastly, the^e is the aute, or paper- 

 mulberry, now apparently extinct, but which was abundant 

 in Cook's time. In Polynesia the inner bark is used for the 

 manufacture of cloth, but in New Zealand it seems to have 

 been put to no other purpose than that of making fillets for 

 adorning the hair of the chiefs. 



These four plants have a very wide distribution. The 

 sweet potato is now cultivated in all warm countries and 

 many temperate ones. Its native country is unknown, but it 

 is usually supposed to be of American origin, although on this 

 supposition it is difficult to account for its undoubted presence 

 in the Pacific islands and New Zealand long prior to the 

 period of Cook's voyages, and at a still earlier date in China. 

 The taro is considered to be truly native in India and Malaya, 

 and possibly also in some of the Pacific islands, but it also 

 is widely grown in most warm countries. The hue, or gourd, 

 has been known in cultivation from time immemorial, and its 

 native country is quite uncertain, although probably some 

 part of tropical Asia or Africa. Although commonly grown in 

 Polynesia, it does not seem to be truly wild there. As for the 

 paper-mulberry, notwithstanding the fact that it is, or was, 

 cultivated throughout Polynesia from Fiji to the Sandwich 

 Islands, it is extremely doubtful whether it is truly native 

 therein. Probably we shall have to look to China or Japan 

 for its true home. From these facts it will be seen that the 

 four plants brought by the Maoris to New Zealand are widely 

 distributed species, cultivated for ages over a large part of the 

 earth's surface. 



The position occupied by the Polynesian races as tillers of 

 the soil has hardly had sufficient attention given to it, although 

 it may be doubted whether any people ignorant of the use of 

 metals ever advanced so far as they have done. In the case 

 of New Zealand, we are apt, at the present time, to think of 

 Maori agriculture as being slovenly, careless, and without 

 method. But it was not always so. Let any one read the 

 account given by the first visitors to New Zealand — especially 

 Cook — respecting the Maori cultivations of those days — the 



